Taking A Break
by angel-death-dealer
Summary: Addek. Back in their college days, Derek got rather stressed when it came to exam preparations, so the night before finals, Addison is there to keep him calm.


**This is strange territory for me, because I'm a big merder fan. However, I do like Derek and Addison's chemistry in the programme. They're so cool. So, I've decided to go back to the old days. Back where Derek, Addie and Mark were a team. This is before weddings, before hospitals...back in the college days, and Derek's getting a bit stressed, bless him. Please review and tell me what you think, because I might be tempted to write more addek if this goes okay.**

He slammed the pen down with frustration, an anger coursing through his veins with its familiar taunting. The anger wasn't directed at anyone else but himself, but it drew in from the scene around him. It fuelled from the desk, the pen, the large pile of scrawled notes, the many open text books around him. It came from everywhere, and everything, preventing an escape from the rage that he had to work through, just as he did every night.

Tonight was different though. The large date on the calendar, circled in thick red marker, was looming closer than ever; so close, in fact, that the current date only occupied the square before it. Tomorrow was the 27th. Today was the 26th. Actually, to be more exact, it was 11.15pm on the 16th, and his final exam started in eight hours and forty-five minutes. At 9am, he had to be down in the examination room, calm, cool and collected, without any notes, without his books...without anything.

Perhaps that's why he was clinging to the research sources like a screaming child having a tantrum at the moment.

His eyes desperately scanned over the list of names, dates and discoveries...desperately trying to remember advanced procedures, possible outcomes, and why certain medicines shouldn't be mixed. The past twenty-four hours of constant study were starting to get to him. Every available space on the desk was littered with empty mugs of coffee that his roommate, Mark, had brought him, each time insisting that he took a break. He said that he'd take a break, but never did. Whenever he ventured over to the open window, he'd catch sight of something outside his dormitory that would remind him of yet another topic that he'd felt he'd not revised enough. Books that hadn't even been on the reading list had been checked out of the library at the last minute, desperate for the extra scrap of information that might make the difference between an A grade and a fail.

Underneath the desk, his body felt numb against the chair. He'd been sitting down for so long that he wasn't even aware of whether or not his legs were still there. They could have been gnawed off by miniature schnauzers and he wouldn't have noticed through his concentration. However, the sudden appearance of cramp down his left calf muscle alerted him to the pleasant discovery that yes, his legs were still there.

Outside in the hall, he could hear the phone ringing off the hook. His own cell phone tended to ring seconds after the main phone had stopped ringing. He never answered either of the phones. Sometimes, Mark would answer the phone in the hall, but when he came in to see whether Derek was there to speak to whoever had called, always the same person, but he'd never listened as to who it was, he'd always insist that he couldn't take a break, and so Mark would go back to the person on the phone, apologizing on his behalf. A few hours ago, he'd looked and seen that his cell phone had seventeen missed calls lined up since yesterday afternoon. It didn't take a genius to figure out who they were from.

Now, however, as he lay almost collapsed over the desk, exhaustion and frustration destroying any hope of believing he could pass this exam, he wanted that person. He wanted that person who kept ringing him, just as a means of trying to get him away from his revision, just for a few hours. He wanted the person who, for the past few weeks, had been stopping by at his dorm room, attempting to get him away from the books that had him cooped up and missing out on what was promising to be a most beautiful summer. He wanted the person who's voice alone could change his mood from utter despair to ecstatic. He wanted the beautiful, amazing, intelligent, fantastic woman that had miraculously decided to give her heart to perhaps the nerdiest boy at med school.

He wanted Addison Montgomery.

He was about to go into the most important examination he'd ever sit, in less than nine hours time, on no sleep and more caffeine than the average office block, and all he could think about was his girlfriend. The girlfriend who had been nothing but supportive of him through all the procedures he'd attempted even though everyone said they would be useless. The girlfriend who made time to keep him sane through his revision, despite the fact that she was revising for the same examination. The girlfriend who was probably revising the same as he was, at that exact moment, yet the difference between the two remained the fact that she allowed herself the breaks between her studying to call her boyfriend and see how he was doing.

The pen that had recently gone flying across the room in his frustration was suddenly needed to underline a key date in his textbook; one that had already been practically ruined, containing more of his own notes than the original printed text. He pushed the chair away from the desk, but as he reached across to the space near the wastepaper bin where it had landed, a stern voice called out to him.

"Don't even _think _about picking up that pen, Derek Shephard."

He stopped, his hand inches away from the pen in question, and the voice actually caused him to smile; his first and only smile in twenty-four hours, at least. When he had been studying, he'd found that he didn't smile much, because he was too focused on what he couldn't remember than what he could, but he found that a smile could easily be drawn by the voice of the person who he longed for most.

"Addie." He said simply, not moving a muscle.

"I mean it, Mister." She told him, and he could hear the smile in her voice without having to see her face. "You've not been returning my calls which means that you've not left this room in at least two days." She told him, the closeness of her voice telling him that she had crossed the room.

Sure enough, when he rose up in the chair and looked over his shoulder, he saw that she was now standing behind him. As always she was a vision of beauty, with her long red hair spilling over her shoulder, her long fringe clipped back at the top of her head with a pair of hair grips. She wore jeans, her usual attire for the casual day, and a white t-shirt underneath a black zip-up sweater.

"That's not true." He said, in reply to her comment. "I've been to the bathroom."

She raised an eyebrow at him, running her hand over his short, messy curls. "If the wastepaper basket wasn't filled with your notes already, I doubt you would have even gone that far." She joked.

He tried to laugh along with her, but at 11.15 at night, when he'd already lost too much sleep through exam stress, it came out as more of a tired grimace. Seeing this, Addison frowned in concern, and grabbed hold of the back of his chair, looking down at him. "How long has it been since you've taken a break?" She asked him softly.

He cringed at the question. "I think it's best I don't answer that."

"Der..."

"I know, I know." He said, knowing that he was in for a lecture about pacing himself.

"It's not good for you." She reminded him. "Remember last time?"

"Yeah." He said simply.

How could he not remember last time? He'd collapsed ten minutes before his exam and then forced himself to sit through a two-hour paper whilst constantly going through cups of water. How he had managed to pass with a near perfect score had been a mystery, but it had proved to him that last-minute cramming worked. However, on the contrary, it had proved to Addison that it clearly didn't work, and she wasn't about to sit through her exam constantly sneaking glances at the boy two rows along from her to make sure that he was still sitting upright.

She leaned down a little, placing her head on the top of his and wrapping her arms around his neck. "You worry me when you do this to yourself." She whispered to him.

He placed his hands over her arms, turning his head in her hold so that his lips met her cheek. "I'm fine." He tried to assure her lightly.

However, Addison was not to be so easily convinced. She turned the chair around, and extended her arms to him. "Come on." She said simply.

He looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"Come on." She insisted, firmer this time. "It's almost half-past eleven, Derek. If you go to bed now, you can get a good seven hours sleep in before the exam in the morning."

Her proposition brought a look of horror on his face. "Sleep? Now?"

"Yes, sleep, now." She nodded. "Before you run yourself into the ground again."

"Addie, this is the finals exam tomorrow..."

"Yeah, I know. I've been studying too." She reminded him. "And so has Mark, in case you haven't forgotten, and both of us manage to take part in a little thing we call _'study breaks'_." She informed him. "It means that you put the books and the notes away, and you do something relaxing that has nothing to do with studying."

Derek looked at her strangely, and then found himself being dragged from the chair. "Addie, what are you-?"

"Have you got a shirt I can borrow?" She asked him. "Jeans aren't very comfortable to sleep in."

He looked at her for a moment. "You're staying?"

She nodded. "It's the only way I can make sure that what happened last year doesn't happen again." She informed him, giving him a sad smile. "It's not nice to see the person you love run themselves into the ground over something that they're going to excel in anyway."

He watched her, seeing the gentle curve of her lips blend the sympathetic worry and the amusement on her lips. She was motherly by nature, he knew that because she had lost her mother at a young age, and had played a big part in the upbringing of her younger brother due to their father's drinking, but when it came to being worried about him, it wasn't the same maternal care that she bestowed upon him. She wouldn't be sending him to bed, tucking him in and giving him a kiss on the forehead to send him off to sleep; she'd be curling up beside him, holding him as he would be holding her, both of them drifting off into a welcome unconsciousness together. He smiled that this thought; this had been the longing he'd experienced only moments before he'd realised she was in the room.

"You're staying." He repeated, without the questioning tone this time. It was more of a relieved statement to himself. He put his arms around her, holding onto her tightly as she sunk into his embrace. "You're staying." He murmured softly.

"I'm staying." She whispered, her breath hitting the gentle brush of skin at the base of his throat, an action that sent shivers down his spine, which she felt against her. Her arms tightened around him and then she lightly pressed her face into the familiar grove where his shoulder met his neck. She seemed to have marked this spot as her own through their relationship, because whether she was wearing heels or not, which she wasn't right now, it was always the right height for her to rest her head there. "I'm always staying." She assured him.

"Thank you." He nodded against her.

"No problem." She waved off, raising her head from its comfortable position on his shoulder. "Now, I didn't get an answer to my question..."

"What question?" He frowned.

She smirked. "Do you have a shirt I can borrow?" She repeated.

"Oh!" Derek exclaimed, jumping back slightly as if someone had burned him. Addison laughed lightly as he rushed over to the dresser, the top of which was covered in more open textbooks, which made her want to groan inwardly and make them disappear with the flick of her hand. He rummaged through the drawers, thankfully paying no attention to the open pages, one of which was held down with a half-empty, but definitely cold, coffee mug. He finally stood upright again, and approached Addison's side with a navy blue t-shirt, one that was a perfect size for him, but would easily swamp Addison's feminine frame.

"Here." He said, handing the shirt to her.

She removed her zip-up jumper, and when she went to pull her own small t-shirt over her head, Derek politely turned away. She rolled her eyes, unseen by him, but couldn't escape her smile. Derek, she considered, still lived in the age of chivalry. If he had a cape, he'd have covered puddles with it, he'd bring her breakfast in bed when she stayed over, and on more than one memorable occasion, he'd carried her across the threshold. They'd been dating for more than a while now, and they had been sleeping together for the majority of that while, but Derek wasn't the sort of man who would stand there gaping whilst she got changed. Of course, the morning after a night together, it was a different case, as he'd usually shower his admiration upon her, but in situations like this, where sex was clearly not on the table, there was a sense of decency that overwhelmed him. Turning away to allow her privacy was almost an instinct.

After a moment, he heard two separate things fall to the ground; no doubt her t-shirt and her jeans. He fought the temptation that arose to turn around; knowing that it was morally wrong in this situation. Of course, being caught sneaking a peek at his girlfriend wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but he felt guilty for spying. He could, of course. It would be easy, but he wouldn't. He continued to play around this dilemma in his mind, away from the equations for tomorrow's exam, and all the while, he was aware that less than two feet behind him, Addison was getting changed...that meant taking clothes off before she could put more on...

When she had finished changing, with her jeans, jacket and t-shirt now folded and placed on an empty chair, one that she was pleased to discover was not already holding any study materials, she placed her arms around his waist, startling him out of his thoughts. She lent her head against his back with a heavy sigh, pleased with herself for managing to get him away from the studying that was tensing his shoulders up to no end, but her own exhaustion catching up with her. She, too, was exhausted from the studying, and that was with plenty of breaks in her revision, so she could only imagine the exhaustion that Derek was denying himself. He turned around at her sigh, and continued to hold her, resting his head on top of hers, and breathing in the fragrance that was simple Addison Montgomery. She wore his shirt now, the navy one that he usually wore to bed himself, and it was no secret from him that there was only underwear covering her underneath that shirt.

"You don't have to stay." He said softly. "You've got the test tomorrow as well...you don't need to stay here just for me."

She nodded into him. "Yes, I do." She said simply. "And I'm going to."

"Why?" He asked curiously.

"Because whether you want to admit it or not, you want me here when you wake up in the morning." She pointed out, and knew that she had guessed correctly when he laughed gently. "And I want to be here for you, no matter what."

They both knew that this was because Derek was likely to get up, panicky to no end, skip breakfast and try to cram more studying in before the exam. With Addison around, he wouldn't be able to do that. He still thought that the cramming last year had helped, if not for his health, but he was extremely open to the idea of waking up with Addison in his arms for another morning. The words 'thank you' were on his lips, but he had trouble saying them. He wasn't very good with words unless he was using them in an essay, and despite how strongly he felt for Addison, and how much he loved her, he couldn't admit aloud that he truly needed another human being beside him to help him get through this night. However, with Addison, he didn't need to say these words, and as she nodded against him after their silence, she knew that his silence was his thanks.

Still wrapped in the shrouds of silence, they went over to Derek's bed, laying down together. At first, Addison lay with her back pressed against his chest, with him spooning around her, holding her tightly in their usual sleeping habits, but as comfortable as it was, she couldn't stay that way. She needed to put her arms around him, returning the security that he gave her every time he held her. He needed the reassurance tonight. She turned in his arms, laying with her head on his chest.

"Goodnight, Addie." He murmured, sleep already creeping over him like a drowsy blanket. "Mm...love you..."

She smiled at his sleepy attitude, and leaned over him, kissing him gently on the lips before returning her head to his chest. "Goodnight, Der. Sleep well." She smiled, murmuring her last three words to him against the t-shirt that covered his own chest. "I love you."

----

Addison's presence helped, and for the first night in a long while, Derek slept all through the night. There wasn't a single waking moment where he briefly, yet blearily, opened his eyes in the young hours of the morning, only to stumble over to his desk and fall asleep half an hour later with his face pressed against the pages of an open text book. He also hadn't woken up in a completely different position that he'd fallen asleep with. That always happened when Addison stayed over. He always knew that she was beside him, even when they slept, and never submitted her to being part of the fidgeting he couldn't control.

He was aware of a familiar sweetness when he opened his eyes; a taste surrounding his lips that he recognised, and yearned for. The origin was clear; a pair of rosebud lips pressed against his own softly, Addison's attempts at waking him up, no doubt. However, despite the fact that the kiss was a means of waking, it still went down a lot better with Derek than the all-too-familiar loud beeping of the alarm clock. Her arms were still wrapped around him, and he could feel her hands trailing up and down his spine in a gentle, soothing notion. Her eyes were already open, watching him, and for the first time in ages, when he opened his eyes, he felt refreshed, rather than overcome with the urge for more sleep. She smiled up at him.

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

"'Morning." He replied simply, as he nuzzled his face against hers for a lazy morning kiss.

"Apparently, you slept well." She smiled.

He nodded against her. "Amazingly well, actually." They kissed again, a lot less lazily this time, and when they parted, he frowned a little. "What time is it?"

"It's seven-thirty."

They both jumped a little at the voice that clearly wasn't either of those, but looked up to see Mark Sloane standing in the doorway, looking rather pleased with himself.

"Morning, guys." He grinned at them.

Derek frowned at him. "What are you-?"

"I was just about to wake you up." He revealed. "But Addie seems to be doing a good enough job of that." He said, with a playful smirk.

Addison blushed, and laughed to herself, making sure that the smaller pillow was available for her to throw at their friend. Mark and Addison always got on well, which was helpful for Derek; as he really didn't want to have to chose between his girlfriend and his best friend. Mark grabbed the pillow, and made a wisecrack about Addison throwing like a girl, however she instantly had a come back with the fact that she was a girl, and so she was entitled to throw like one. There was some more banter between the two, but Derek zoned out to it. However, for once, he didn't zone out thinking about science and medical procedures. He was fully concentrated on the warm body beside him, sharing the comforting warmth that was radiating from Addison's body, and hearing her voice, and her laugh...just sensing her smile was enough for him to calm down.

As long as he had Addison to calm him down, taking exams would never really be a problem. He just needed her to remind him that breaks were good.

Especially when they were taken with her.


End file.
